L’ENVOI, 
E Author cannot take leave of his 
readers without expressing the earnest 
hope that some pleasure and some 
profit may have been derived by those 
who have closely followed him through his c Fern 
Paradise.’ To him, at least, the work of writing 
these pages has been truly a labour of love : for it 
has called up vividly before his mind’s eye de- 
lightful scenes which he has with, he fears, but 
imperfect success, attempted to describe. But 
had not the task been pleasant in itself, it would 
have been rendered enjoyable by a consciousness 
of the importance of the object for which it was 
undertaken. 
For surely to aim at giving pleasure to others 
405 
